overheard: Kwanza

Driving through downtown on Friday we passed a group of black people waiting to cross the street.

In the back seat Abby says to Emma Jean, "Those are Kwanza people. They celebrate Kwanza. Kwanza is not my favorite holiday."
"Abby, why do you say that?"
"Because we don't celebrate Kwanza, so it's not my favorite."
Then Emma Jean, always ready with her two cents had to throw in, "I don't celebrate Kwanza either."

I asked Abby what she even knows about Kwanza. She said that she heard it on TV at Aunt Susie's. Then she asked why we didn't celebrate Kwanza and I told her very simply that it is a holiday tradition that people who decendended from Africa celebrate, like Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah and Mexicans celebrate the Posadas. etc.

Then she asked, "Do the people who celebrate Kwanza get presents?"
"I don't know much about the holiday Abby. Sorry I can't be more helpful."
"Oh. That's alright honey. Everyone makes mistakes."
Then Emma Jean added for the sake of tradition, "We got our magnetix for Christmas last time.On the fourth day of Christmas."*

You can always count on Emma Jean for the random interjection. She just can't help herself. She is the reigning queen of the last word. Of course, she is the queen of everything.

Often lacking in orginal expression, yet somehow never at a loss for words. That's our girls!

And so we stand on cultural diversity in our little corner of dysfunction junction. Even Sesame Street can't whip them into the proper political correctness of the day.
Que lastima.

post script: I did think it was interesting that Abby made the association between Kwanza and black people. She is one of those "Can't see the forest for the trees" people, only it's more like she can't even see the trees for the branches and leaves and sometimes it's the tiny little weblike veins in the tree leaves that catch her eye.

*Don't ask. I am still sleuthing this one out. I am working on a theory though. Stay tuned.